In Danger's Path
Page 68
“We don’t have anything to say,” McCoy said reasonably. “And if we don’t go on the air, nobody can hear us and wonder what’s going on.”
“But you were ordered to maintain communication,” Sampson persisted.
“Easy, Killer,” Zimmerman said, recognizing the look in McCoy’s eyes.
“What you’re going to do, Captain,” McCoy said, “is wake up two Chinese. Station one in the back of the ambulance and one in the back of the weapons carrier. Tell them if they fall asleep while on duty, you will shoot them. Any questions?”
Sampson looked at him for a moment, then shrugged. “Yes, sir,” he said.
“Then help Zimmerman make sure both gas tanks, and all the jerry cans, are full.”
“Yes, sir,” Sampson said. “Sir, may I ask a question?”
“Shoot.”
“Why does Sergeant Zimmerman call you ‘Killer’?”
“Because he kills people who give him trouble,” Zimmerman replied, very seriously.
“Fuck you, Ernie!” McCoy flared.
Zimmerman growled in his chest. When he saw him smiling broadly, Sampson realized that this was a laugh. And then McCoy laughed.
“It’s a long story, Sampson,” McCoy said. “Maybe I’ll tell you sometime.”
McCoy set off in search of the sergeant who was in effect the convoy’s navigator.
Fifteen minutes later, the ambulance and the weapons carrier pulled out of the line of vehicles in the convoy and drove alongside it. McCoy stopped to exchange a handshake and a salute with the convoy commander, then got back in the weapons carrier, tapped “Shave and a Haircut, Two Bits” on the horn, and drove farther into the Gobi Desert.
[TWO]
The Oval Office
The White House
Washington, D.C.
1645 24 April 1943
When Colonel William J. Donovan was shown in, the President was sitting in his wheelchair looking out the window into the garden. “Good afternoon, Mr. President,” Donovan said.
Roosevelt spun the wheelchair around. “You don’t look as if you’ve just learned the world is about to come to an end,” he said. “So what’s so important that you asked to see me right away?”
Donovan set his briefcase on a coffee table, unlocked it, took from it an unsealed white business-size envelope, and handed it to him. “Neither Admiral Leahy nor General Marshall was available to bring these to you, Mr. President, and I thought you would like to see them right away.”
* * *
TOPSECRET-MAGIC
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE
1005 GREENWICH 23 APRIL 1943
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
FROM COMMANDER IN CHIEF PACIFIC
PEARL HARBOR
TO CHIEF OF NAVAL OPERATIONS
WASHINGTON
EYES ONLY ADMIRAL WILLIAM D. LEAHY
INFO SUPREME COMMANDER SOUTH WEST
PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS
BRISBANE
1. DURING THE PAST FIVE (5) DAYS, A TOTAL OF THIRTY-ONE (31) MESSAGES, SEVENTEEN (17) FROM THE JAPANESE HEADQUARTERS AT BOUGAINVILLE TO THE JAPANESE IMPERIAL GENERAL STAFF IN TOKYO, AND FOURTEEN (14) FROM JIGS TO BOUGAINVILLE USING THREE DIFFERENT HIGH LEVEL CODES, HAVE BEEN INTERCEPTED AND DECRYPTED, AND ANALYZED. ALL MESSAGES MADE REFERENCE TO THE SHOOTING DOWN OF ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO AS HIS TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT APPROACHED BOUGAINVILLE, AND TO THE RECOVERY OF HIS REMAINS AND PLANS TO HAVE THE REMAINS SENT TO JAPAN.
2. IN THE OPINION OF THE ANALYSTS, THE MESSAGES REFLECT BOTH THE CHAOS WHICH WOULD BE EXPECTED TO RESULT IF ADMIRAL YAMAMOTO HAD INDEED BEEN KILLED, AND ALSO POSSESS A CERTAIN TONE OF RESPECT FOR THE DECEASED ENTIRELY CONSISTENT WITH WHAT THE ANALYSTS WOULD EXPECT TO FIND IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES. THE ANALYSTS DO NOT REPEAT DO NOT BELIEVE THE MESSAGES ARE CONSISTENT WITH AN ATTEMPT TO DISSEMINATE FALSE INFORMATION.
3. FURTHERMORE, THE JAPANESE CONTINUE TO USE THE CODES THEY HAVE BEEN USING, AND HAVE NOT INTRODUCED ANY NEW CODES AS THEY WOULD HAVE HAD THE YAMAMOTO FLIGHT BEEN A RUSE. THIS LEADS THE UNDERSIGNED TO BELIEVE THAT THE MAGIC CAPABILITY IS NOT AT THIS TIME IMPAIRED IN ANY WAY.
CHESTER W. NIMITZ
ADMIRAL, US NAVY
COMMANDER-IN-CHIEF, PACIFIC
TOPSECRET-MAGIC
* * *
* * *
TOPSECRET
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
1005 GREENWICH 23 APRIL 1943
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
FROM SUPREME COMMANDER SOUTH WEST
PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS
BRISBANE
TO CHIEF OF STAFF US ARMY
WASHINGTON
EYES ONLY GENERAL GEORGE C. MARSHALL
FOLLOWING PERSONAL FROM SUPREME
COMMANDER SWPOA TO CHIEF OF STAFF US ARMY
MY DEAR GEORGE:
I THOUGHT YOU WOULD BE INTERESTED TO KNOW THAT I JUST DECORATED A FINE YOUNG ARMY AIRCORPS OFFICER NAMED LANIER FROM MONTGOMERY, ALABAMA, WITH THE DISTINGUISHED FLYING CROSS. WHILE LEADING A ROUTINE PATROL OF FOUR OF MY P-38 AIRCRAFT NEAR BOUGAINVILLE HE SHOT DOWN A JAPANESE TRANSPORT OF THE TYPE NORMALLY RESERVED FOR THE USE OF SENIOR JAPANESE OFFICERS. HIS FELLOW PILOTS SHOT DOWN THREE OF THE TRANSPORT’S ESCORTS AS WELL.
THE TRANSPORT AIRCRAFT CRASHED IN FLAMES INTO THE JUNGLE, AND IN THE OPINION OF THE PILOT WHO SHOT IT DOWN, THERE IS NO CHANCE OF ANY SURVIVORS. ALL FOUR AIRCRAFT RETURNED SAFELY TO THEIR AIRFIELD IN THE SOLOMON ISLANDS.
I VERY MUCH APPRECIATE THE PRESIDENT’S
AND YOUR CONFIDENCE IN ME.
WITH BEST REGARDS,
DOUGLAS
END PERSONAL TO CHIEF OF STAFF, US ARMY
FROM SUPREME COMMANDER SOUTH WEST
PACIFIC OCEAN AREAS
TOPSECRET
* * *
“Well, that is good news,” Roosevelt said, “if it can ever be called good news to learn that my orders to have someone assassinated have been carried out successfully.”
“You probably saved thousands of American lives, tens of thousands of American lives, more than that, by ordering the elimination of Admiral Yamamoto, Mr. President,” Donovan said.
“It’s a bit different, isn’t it, Bill, when you know the name of the man you’re having ‘eliminated’? When you know what he looks like? That ‘kill or be killed’ seems a little remote from this office, doesn’t it?”
“You saved lives, Mr. President,” Donovan repeated.
“Do you think Fleming Pickering knows about this?”
“I don’t think so,” Donovan said. “I don’t think either Admiral Leahy or General Marshall saw any need to bring Stillwell in on any of the Yamamoto business.”
“You don’t think Stillwell is going to be told?”
“I think that he’ll be informed by a hand-delivered message, sir.”
“Pickering’s with Stillwell, right?”
“Yes, sir.”
“How’s his weather station operation coming?”
“It could be going a little better, Mr. President,” Donovan said.
“In other words, something went wrong,” Roosevelt said. “What went wrong, Bill?”
“I don’t mean to suggest, sir, that the mission will fail,” Donovan said. “But, unfortunately, it’s looking more and more like something happened to the two men Pickering sent into the Gobi from Chungking.”
“Explain that, please?”
“Captain McCoy and Sergeant Zimmerman left a town called Yümen with a Nationalist Army supply truck convoy headed into the desert to rendezvous with a patrol—a camel patrol—the Chinese operate in the desert.”
“A camel patrol? Sounds like Lawrence of Arabia,” Roosevelt said.
“Yes, sir. Pickering’s idea was for McCoy and the other to travel with the supply convoy as far as it was going, then head out by themselves, looking for the Americans Pickering apparently believes are out there somewhere, until, in Pickering’s words, they either found them or ran out of gas, whichever comes first. At that point they would attempt to establish contact with Pearl Harbo
r. Once contact was established, the seaplanes would attempt a rendezvous with a submarine at sea, where they would take on fuel, as well as the meteorologists and their equipment, and then fly into the Gobi. They would then try to put themselves within a hundred miles or so of McCoy and the other Americans, and from there they hoped to find them by homing in on a radio signal.”
“Did you disapprove of this plan before Pickering put it into execution, or is this from the position of hindsight?” Roosevelt asked, not very pleasantly.
He knows and likes McCoy, Donovan thought. McCoy and Jimmy Roosevelt are pals. They made the Makin Island raid together. I can’t forget that.
“I thought, sir, that the plan prepared by the OSS station chief in Chungking had a greater chance of success,” Donovan said. “Unfortunately, it looks as if I was right.”
“What did Pickering find wrong with the other plan?”
“He thought it would call too much attention to the weather station, sir.”
“And what makes you think Pickering’s plan has failed?”
“McCoy had orders to maintain communications with Pearl Harbor—his messages to be forwarded Special Channel to Pickering in Chungking—and he has failed to do so.”
“He hasn’t been heard from at all?”
“No, Mr. President.”
“And what happens now? Plan Two is put into execution?”
“Yes, sir. Before Pickering’s men started out, another two sets of meteorological equipment and the personnel to operate it were procured. The people and the equipment are at the moment en route to Chungking—they’re due there April thirtieth. When they arrive, we’ll put the OSS plan into execution.”
“The OSS plan versus the Pickering plan?” the President said. “Odd, Bill, I was under the impression that I had named Fleming Pickering Deputy Director of the OSS for Pacific Operations. Wouldn’t that make his plan an OSS plan, too?”
“That was an unfortunate choice of words, Mr. President,” Donovan said.
“Yes, it was,” Roosevelt agreed. “And I was also under the impression that you and Pickering had put your differences aside for the duration.”
“We have, sir. I take no pleasure in the failure of his plan.”
“What exactly do you think has happened to young McCoy?”
“I have no idea, sir. There are bandits operating all over that area. That’s one possibility. Another is that they had the bad luck to run into a Japanese patrol.”
“You have no idea?” Roosevelt said sarcastically. “But, Bill, I count on you to know what I want to know. You’re the director of the OSS.”
“I’m sure that as soon as General Pickering hears anything, he will advise me.”
“What about the supply convoy McCoy was with? Have they been heard from? Do they know anything?”
“The convoy will return to Yümen about the thirtieth, sir.”
“Do you think that Fleming Pickering will have someone there to meet them, to see what they might know?”
“I’m sure he will, sir.”
“How can you be sure?” Roosevelt asked. “You don’t seem to have much faith in his ability to run an operation like this.”
“I will recommend to General Pickering, sir, that he have someone on hand.”
“Do that,” Roosevelt said. “But don’t make it a recommendation. He has a tendency, apparently, to ignore your recommendations. Tell him I said to do it.”
“Yes, Mr. President.”
“Thank you for coming in, Colonel,” the President said, and turned his wheelchair back to the window overlooking the garden.
[THREE]
* * *
OPERATIONAL IMMEDIATE
ALL RECEIVING USNAVAL COMMUNICATIONS
FACILITIES RELAY TO CINCPAC
ATTENTION RADM WAGAM
GASSTATION ON STATION AS OF 0230
GREENWICH 25 APRIL 1943
PROCEEDING ACCORDING TO ORDERS
HOUSER, LTCMDR, USN COMMANDING
* * *
[FOUR]
Kiangpeh, Chungking, China
1325 26 April 1943
Brigadier General Fleming Pickering, USMCR, was playing chess with Second Lieutenant George F. Hart—not with any interest, but rather because he could think of absolutely nothing else to do—when Lieutenant Colonel Edward Banning, USMCR, knocked at his open door.
“Ed, I hope you’re going to tell me you’ve heard from McCoy,” Pickering said.
“No, sir. Not a peep. But this just came in, and I thought you’d better see it right away.
* * *
TOPSECRET
OFFICE OF THE DIRECTOR
THE OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES
WASHINGTON
0324 GREENWICH 26 APRIL 1943
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
US MILITARY MISSION TO CHINA
EYES ONLY BRIG GEN FLEMING PICKERING, USMCR
FOLLOWING PERSONAL FROM DIRECTOR OSS TO
BRIG GEN PICKERING
BEGIN MESSAGE
DEAR FLEMING:
THE PRESIDENT IS NEARLY AS HEARTSICK AS I AM ABOUT THE BAD LUCK CAPTAIN MCCOY APPARENTLY HAS HAD, AND VERY ANXIOUS FOR INFORMATION OF ANY KIND REGARDING WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO HIM.
BY DIRECTION OF THE PRESIDENT, IF YOU HAVE NOT ALREADY MADE ARRANGEMENTS TO HAVE SOMEONE WITH THE PROPER QUALIFICATIONS MEET THE NATIONALIST ARMY SUPPLY CONVOY ON ITS RETURN TO YÜMEN, WITH THE EXPRESS PURPOSE OF LEARNING WHAT, IF ANYTHING, THEY KNOW ABOUT CAPTAIN MCCOY’S FATE, YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY DO SO.
YOU WILL IMMEDIATELY ACKNOWLEDGE BY SPECIAL CHANNEL RECEIPT OF THIS MESSAGE. AS SOON AS POSSIBLE YOU WILL FURNISH BY SPECIAL CHANNEL THE DETAILS OF YOUR COMPLIANCE WITH THE PRESIDENT’S DIRECTIVE. ALL REPEAT ALL INFORMATION OBTAINED IN YÜMEN WILL SIMILARLY BE DISPATCHED BY THE MOST EXPEDITIOUS MEANS.
SIMILARLY, YOU WILL ADVISE ARRIVAL IN CHUNGKING OF WEATHER PERSONNEL AND EQUIPMENT, AND PROGRESS IN EXECUTING BACK UP OPPLAN.
BEST REGARDS,
BILL
END MESSAGE
TOPSECRET
* * *
Pickering looked up at Banning as he handed the Special Channel to Hart.
“I sent the ‘we got it’, sir,” Banning said.
“I’d like to go up there myself,” Pickering said. “God knows, I feel as useless as teats on a boar hog around here.”
“You can’t do that, sir,” Hart said.
“I could send Colonel Platt,” Pickering said.
“I wouldn’t give the sonofabitch the satisfaction, sir,” Banning said.
“‘Son of a bitch’?” Pickering quoted.
“You know the expression ‘crocodile tears’?” Banning asked. “He calls twice a day to ask if we have any word from McCoy. He is always so very sorry to hear we haven’t.”
“Sampson is with McCoy,” Pickering said.
“Sampson is the price he’s perfectly willing to pay for having everybody know he was right in the first place.”
“I hope you have been able to keep your distaste for Colonel Platt to yourself, Colonel,” Pickering said.
“With great effort, sir.”
After a moment, Pickering went on: “Easterbrook doesn’t speak Chinese, and neither does George. Moore does, but Stillwell likes to bounce ideas about the Japanese mind off him. Rutterman doesn’t speak Chinese. And I don’t want to send any of Platt’s people up there, unsure as I am about where their loyalties lie. That leaves you, Ed.”
“Aye, aye, sir. What about getting there?”
“Send a Special Channel to Donovan over my signature. Tell him that I’m sending you. Take this Special Channel, and the one to Donovan, and show them to General Stillwell. He’ll either get you on a plane, or get you your own plane. The Commander in Chief has spoken.”
“Aye, aye, sir,” Banning said. Something in his tone caught Pickering’s attention.
“Say it, Ed,” Pickering said.
“You don’t want to go see General Stillwell yourself, sir?”
“I don’t have the balls,�
�� Pickering confessed. “I just about promised him he wouldn’t have to come up with two companies of Chinese infantry he can’t spare, and now it looks like I’m going to have to ask him to do just that.”
[FIVE]
* * *
TOPSECRET
VIA SPECIAL CHANNEL
1605 LOCAL TIME 30 APRIL 1943
DUPLICATION FORBIDDEN
FROM OSS DEPUTY DIRECTOR FOR PACIFIC
OPERATIONS
TO DIRECTOR OFFICE OF STRATEGIC SERVICES WASHINGTON
EYES ONLY WILLIAM R DONOVAN
1. METEOROLOGICAL PERSONNEL AND THEIR EQUIPMENT ARRIVED SAFELY BUT IN NEED OF REST 1400 LOCAL TIME THIS DATE.
2. IT WILL BE NECESSARY TO MOVE THE PERSONNEL AND THEIR EQUIPMENT TO YÜMEN BY AIR. GENERAL STILLWELL HAS ARRANGED FOR A 14TH US AIR FORCE C-47 TO MAKE THE TRIP DEPARTING CHUNGKING MORNING OF 1 MAY WITH ETA YÜMEN LATE SAME AFTERNOON, PRESUMING GOOD WEATHER.
3. LTCOL BANNING, PRESENTLY IN YÜMEN, ESTIMATES STAGING OF DEPARTURE FROM YÜMEN WILL TAKE TWENTY-FOUR HOURS AFTER ARRIVAL OF NATIONALIST CHINESE INFANTRY ESCORT. GENERAL STILLWELL ADVISES TROOPS CANNOT BE MADE AVAILABLE BEFORE 0600 4 MAY 1943.
4. LTCOL BANNING FURTHER ADVISES THAT ORIGINAL ETA OF SUPPLY CONVOY RETURNING TO YÜMEN HAS BEEN INDEFINITELY EXTENDED DUE TO WEATHER CONDITIONS AND OTHER FACTORS, AND FURTHER THAT DESPITE INTENSIVE EFFORT HE HAS BEEN UNABLE TO DEVELOP ANY INTELLIGENCE REGARDING LOCATION OF MCCOY.
FLEMING PICKERING, BRIG GEN USMCR